Cyberspace Administration Of China Passes New Regulations On Online Comments

According to media reports on November 16th, the Cyberspace Administration of Communist China issued newly revised regulations on Provisions for the Management of Internet Comments Posts, which will come into effect on December 15th, 2022. The Cyberspace Administration said that to address new situations and new problems with online posts and comments, it needs to “revise and improve” the regulations. The newly updated by-law totaled 16 articles and focuses on the management responsibilities of providers of follow-up comments, users, and public account producers and operators. 

At the same time, the new regulation demands that public account producers and operators apply to the follow-up comment service provider for comment management rights in line with the user service agreement. Follow-up comment service providers should issue manage authority and provide technical support to public account operators according to their credit assessment. In other words, either comments or articles on the website should be reviewed prior to post. Analysts point out that while the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) implements the Zero-Covid policy, it controls the dissemination of information about the epidemic and reviews traditional and new social media, so that when people post messages on the Internet to seek help, the CCP suppresses them on the pretext of allegedly spreading rumors and disturbing public order. The policy of review-before-posting is the CCP’s latest means of controlling the public